July 4 Recorded as Earth's Hottest Day on Record

Facts

• According to US National Centers for Environmental Prediction data, July 4 was the hottest day ever recorded worldwide — in as many as 125K years — with the average global temperature logging 17.18°C (62.92°F).¹
• The same record was broken the previous day on July 3, when the average global temperature reached 17.01°C (62.62°F), higher than the previous record of 16.92°C (62.46) set on Aug. 14, 2016.²
• The record-breaking temperatures are yet to be confirmed officially, as the observations were based on the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer — a tool often used by climate scientists to forecast weather and climate patterns.³
• Meanwhile, scientists attribute the sharp rise in average global temperature for the second day to climate change and an emerging El Niño, a weather pattern that usually brings increased temperatures worldwide every two to seven years.⁴
• Last month was the hottest June in the global record, with the average global temperature reaching 1.46°C above the typical temperatures recorded in the pre-industrial era (between 1850 and 1900).⁵
• According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global greenhouse gas emissions must be cut to 60% below 2019 levels by 2035 to protect the planet and its ecosystems.⁶

Sources: ¹Forbes, ²Washington Post, ³Associated Press, ⁴The Hill, ⁵BBC News, and ⁶Scientific American.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Guardian. Tuesday's record is a warning that the world must brace for more scorching temperatures over the next few months as there is a good chance the average global temperature will exceed 1.5°C beyond pre-industrial times. As the escalating impacts of global warming are now evident, the world must get its act together and accelerate plans to radically cut greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the worst effects of human-induced climate change.
• Narrative B, as provided by New York Post. Instead of fear-mongering over the dangers of climate change and blaming greenhouse gas emissions for rising global temperatures, this finding must be put in perspective. It's unfair to claim that climate change is reaching uncharted territory and Tuesday's record is "code red" for humanity when the extreme rise in temperature is rooted in El Niño — a natural weather-warming event that generally makes the planet hotter.

Predictions